September 1, 2009
Record Ontario soy area doesn't mean record output
The record number of acres that were planted to soy in Ontario this spring will not translate into record production due to adverse weather conditions, according to an official with the Ontario provincial government.
"We still have another four to six weeks until the soy harvest begins, and we've had a pretty tough growing season, including too much rain and not enough sunshine," said Horst Bohner, a soy specialist for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Rural Affairs.
He said there are areas within the province where the soycrop looks terrific, but there are also areas where the crop looks especially poor due to excess moisture.
"If I had to make a prediction, I would say we are going to see yield output drop below the five-year average by a fair bit to around the mid to high 30-bushel-an-acre range," Bonner said. The average soy yield in Ontario currently sits at around 40.6 bushels/acre.
The area planted to soy in Ontario during the spring of 2009 totalled a record 2.4 million acres. In 2008, 2.1 million acres of soy were planted in the province. The previous record was established in 2004, when 2.3 million acres of soy were seeded.
"Ontario will need to have a longer-than-average fall in order to pull this soybean crop off without any kind of frost damage," Bonner said. "We remain fairly optimistic about the soybean crop, but it certainly is not going to be a bin buster."
He said how the soy crop turns out will depend what happens weather-wise over the next four weeks.
Bonner also noted that some of the yield potential for soy has been hurt by aphid infestations.
"The soy crop has also been hurt by aphids, which is an insect that can really take a chunk out of the yield potential," Bonner said.
The aphids started off as only being a problem in select areas of the province, but later spread to include a number of eastern soy-growing regions, Bonner said. The aphids have also become a problem for crops in at least 50 percent of the south-central region of Ontario and parts of the south-west.
